The Other Boleyn Girl can't quite figure out what it wants to be. At times it strains to be a stately period drama about 16th-century political intrigue. Then it devolves into soap opera muck and emerges as a rather tame bodice ripper. It's not that a good production can't be both a thrilling tale of historical intrigue and sensual adventures, but this film doesn't convince in either category.

Lots was made of its $150 million price tag, and then the large religious demographic that didn't flock to the box office. Well, yes, there is an ark, a flood and a modern-day Noah named Evan (Steve Carell), but there are also splattering do-do jokes, pummeled-groin jokes and the climactic shrug-off of a major city suffering inestimable property damage. Ain't we got fun? This is the movie year's most woebegone mishap, and it's great that it sank.

Ken Burns and co-creator Lynn Novick present World War II's effect on four U.S. towns. The six discs deliver full period context from a U.S. point of view and evocative soundtrack pop (not always the hit versions, but nice).

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) is finally out on a twofer with 1971's Mary, Queen of Scots (Universal, both PG, $20), and Richard Burton's Oscar-nominated performance recalls his '60s screen heyday. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was probably the actor's peak, but here are three Burtons I like to revisit: